Worried About Having a Bad Duct Cleaning Experience?All About House Dust Mites and the Allergy Problems they Pose
Dust Mites and Allergies in the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford Areas of CT
Tiny dust mites could be living in your air ducts, linens, and carpeting, and can be the root of allergy problems. Invisible to the naked eye, dust mites live in and feed off of dust in your home. The mites feed on the particles of hair, food, and skin that litter your home as dust. Doctors and allergen specialists often refer to the home dust mite, dermatophagoides farinae, as HDM. These dust mites are a frequent cause of asthma. Adult dust mites have 8 legs whiledust mites in the larval satge have only 6. Male dust mites have a 19-30 day lifespan. Conversely, females live for up to two months, laying eggs for the last 30 days.
At least the mites do not bite or have any sort of poison. Dust mites feed on shed skin and other food particles. Usually dust mites have plenty to eat since people shed around 0.3 to 0.45 Kg (0.5 to 1 lbs) of skin each year. As gross as it may seem, the moisture from your sweat and saliva makes your bed an idea bed for dust mites as well. Even though they do not bite, do not think that dust mites cannot harm you because they are a source of the allergens that can cause asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and dermatitis. The microscopic feces that dust mites leave all over your house and floating in the air contains DerP1, an enzyme that causes allergies.
As mentioned above, dust mites like to live in very humid places, and therefore do not care for air ducts very much. Air ducts do carry a lot of skin, and other dust particles though. Duct systems then use a fan to move these dust particles all over your house. The dust mites never run out of food when they have your air duct system depositing more all over the house for them every day.
The below suggestions will help reduce dust mites:
- Purchase a HEPA filtered vacuum and use this to clean your home on a regular basis.
- All surfaces of your home should be dusted at least weekly.
- Any fabric in your house that could trap dust and moisture, such as sheets, carpets, drapes, and upholstery should be sanitized on a somewhat regular basis.
- Have all the carpeting removed from your home.
- Purchase anti-allergen furniture and bed coverings.
- Children's stuffed animals can be frozen to kill mites living in them.
- One of the best ways it to maintain a humidity of under 70%.
Now you should be able to live a much more allergy free live, with nearly so many dust mites in your home.
Well, that concludes our dust mites article. Hopefully you have a better handle on what the process involves and what you might look to in an ductwork cleaning company. Since most ductwork cleaning companies also clean dryer vents, you might want to read our dryer vent cleaning tips article as well. Having your dryer vent cleaned while the technicians are still at your home cleaning your air ducts, will save you money.
Local Articles Related to Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford Dust Mites and Allergies
Dryer Vent Cleaning Connecticut
Local Connecticut Air Duct Cleaning Companies and Government Links
